


Home for Christmas

by ArchangelUnmei



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: APH Rare Pair Exchange 2017, F/F, Holidays, M/M, Snowed In, Social Media, Travel, interconnected narrative, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-08
Updated: 2017-01-08
Packaged: 2018-09-15 19:38:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9252935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArchangelUnmei/pseuds/ArchangelUnmei
Summary: Everyone has to travel for the holidays, and it's almost never easy or fun. It's even worse when the weather decides not to cooperate.(Or; Snowed in, in planes, trains, and automobiles with only social media to keep you sane)





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [chartini](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chartini/gifts).



> Written for Chartini as part of the [APH Rare Pairs Exchange](http://www.aphsecretsanta.tumblr.com)! I've never written for either Romania or Monaco before, this was really fun to do. And as usual with me, a tiny plotbunny sort of... grew.
> 
> Just a couple quick notes before we get to the fun. This fic is set in North America, for several reasons. I grew up in the US, but now I live in Canada, and most of my traveling has been within North America. I didn't want to spend so much time researching European travel that I lost my inspiration, so I decided to go with what I already have experience in. And having been caught traveling in _four_ blizzards (nearly snowed into O'Hare in '10, driving US Interstate 75 in white-out conditions in '11, iced into a train in middle Ontario in '13, and stuck in a f*cking Ottawa _bus shelter_ for two hours in '15) this was rather therapeutic for me to write, eheheh... 
> 
> **Pairings:**   
> _Netherlands/Romania/Denmark/Norway_ \- More emphasis on NedRo and DenNor as romantic pairings and NedDen and NorRo as best-friends-with-benefits, but they're definitely a foursome   
> _Belgium/Monaco_   
> _America/Canada/South Italy_   
> _Prussia/England_ and _France/Spain_ \- With occasional couple-swapping into other configurations, but PrUK and FraSpa are the romantic pairings   
>  Mentioned _Germany/North Italy_ and _Sweden/Finland_
> 
> **Names:**   
>  Netherlands - Maarten   
> Belgium - Anika   
> Monaco - Dominique   
> Romania - Mihai   
> Norway - Leiv   
> Denmark - Søren   
> (I now have the keystroke for ø memorized. =w= )

"Wake up, wake _up_ , there's only six days until Christmas!"

Maarten groaned and rolled over to shove his head under a pillow. He felt the bed move, Mihai bouncing on it in a fit of entirely inappropriate early morning glee. Leiv huddled a little closer against Maarten's back, a low growl vibrating through him, but beyond him Søren gave a husky chuckle and reached out to snag Mihai around the waist and pull him close. 

"Six days is six days, lille," he said, mercifully keeping his voice to a murmur. "Leiv hasn't had coffee yet, and you know how Maarten gets before a smoke, so let's just go downstairs and let the bears sleep." 

Safe under his pillow, Maarten rolled his eyes, and felt the bed move again as Leiv kicked Søren for his comment. Mihai laughed, too loud, and Søren herded him off the bed and out of the room. Cautiously, Maarten emerged from under the pillow. He started to shift toward the edge of the bed but Leiv, still ninety percent asleep, grumbled and threw an arm over his waist to hold him down, so Maarten settled back and let himself drift. They had a lot to do today, but they didn't quite _need_ to be up yet. 

The house was Leiv's, technically, inherited from his grandparents when they passed away. It was old and creaky, but big enough to meet their needs with three bedrooms and two big full baths. The four of them loved each other, but sometimes Maarten was at a loss to explain how they hadn't killed each other yet, or how they'd come together in the first place, beyond the bare facts that Leiv and Mihai had been school mates with Maarten's younger sister, and that Leiv and Søren were distantly related through one of Søren's cousins marrying one of Leiv's. 

There were nights where all four of them fell asleep together on the giant bed that dominated the master bedroom, but there were just as many nights when Leiv pointedly slunk off to his bedroom (he had one of the smaller ones all to himself, because he most often needed a private space for himself to retreat to) and shut the door in Søren's face, or Maarten retreated to the guest bedroom to get some quiet. They broke into couples fairly often as well; Leiv and Mihai curled up together on the couch, their noses both buried in books. Or Søren and Mihai proclaiming they were going to spend a weekend rock climbing, while Leiv wrinkled his nose at the idea and Maarten pointedly sat down on the couch and put his feet up. Or Maarten, stripped shirtless and up to his elbows in his flower beds with Søren helpfully pulling weeds while chattering on about anything that came to mind. 

Or Søren smiling softly, an expression he only ever wore when looking at Leiv, taking the younger man's hand and coaxing him upstairs while the other two stayed downstairs, Maarten pulling Mihai onto his lap and slipping a hand up his shirt as soon as Søren and Leiv were out of the room. 

It all worked, somehow, and Maarten was of a mind that if it wasn't broke, it didn't need to be fixed. 

He finally roused himself and nudged Leiv a bit more pointedly. "Need t' be up," he murmured. "Before they burn the kitchen trying to make breakfast. And we should be going by ten, it's supposed to start snowing." 

Leiv sighed, but nodded against his shoulder and rolled over to stretch, pale and lithe against the fleece blankets he always cocooned in while overheating his boyfriends. Maarten admired him for a moment, then reached over to flick a lock of pale hair out of Leiv's eyes and hauled himself out of bed to get dressed. He frowned slightly when he glanced out the window and saw that it was already starting to snow. 

They were supposed to be driving north today; Maarten's parents lived fairly close to Leiv and Søren's mutual cousins Berwald and Tino, so the plan was to spend the week visiting both families. Maarten was even supposed to be picking his sister and her fiancee up from the airport late this evening once they arrived. 

Hopefully the snow would hold off just long enough for them to get there. 

~*~

**Maarten (8:12am):** Mihai just woke us up by jumping on the bed like a 6yo. 

**Matthew (8:13am):** You just woke me up by texting me =A= 

**Maarten (8:15am):**

**Matthew (8:15am):** Shut up 

~*~

"Schisse, we're going to be _late_!" 

Arthur growled and tried to cocoon himself deeper in the duvet. Gilbert, already up and having just gotten out of the shower, put his hands on his hips and regarded the ball of stubborn bedding. 

"Arthur, security is bonkers these days. If we don't get going we'll get held up and miss our flight." 

Arthur wiggled around enough to offer Gilbert the two-fingered salute, voice still slurred from sleep. "Bet you we still have four hours. You're paranoid." 

Gilbert's silence was telling. Bloody German efficiency. Arthur snorted and prepared to settle in for another half hour of sleep. "Two hours 's plenty of time for a domestic flight, Gil." It took him a moment to realize Gilbert hadn't answered him, which was odd. Gilbert never liked not getting the last word in an argument. He was just wondering if he should poke his head out and investigate when Gilbert pushed him out of bed. 

~*~

"Nikki, love, can you get the strawberries out of the fridge? They'll go bad if we leave them the entire time we're away." 

Anika didn't bother to hide her cheeky grin as she looked over at her fiancee from her place at the stove. Dominique slowly raised her head from where she'd been looking at the morning news on her tablet, her eyes narrowed behind her glasses. She hated being called 'Nikki', but Anika couldn't help but think she was adorable, sleepy and glaring with her braid disheveled from sleep. "Please?" she added, half-turning to give Dominique her cutest expression, the one she'd perfected getting her brothers to do things for her all her life. "I'm making waffles." 

"Fine," Dominique grumbled, setting her tablet down and hauling herself up to shuffle to the fridge. Anika beamed even more when she noticed Dominique was wearing the fuzzy slippers she'd gotten her for Christmas. "Do you want the blueberries too, _Nika_?" 

Anika's smile dropped and she made a face. "Okay okay, point made. Yes, grab the blueberries too, I'll put those in the waffles and then we can top them with the strawberries. Do we have any whipped cream?" 

"Uh," Dominique bent down to examine the interior of the fridge. "I don't think so. I don't know how you stand such a sweet breakfast anyway." 

"Habit," Anika shrugged, accepting the containers of fruit when Dominique brought them over and turning to give her a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you. When do we need to leave for the airport?" 

Dominique checked the schedule posted on the fridge with a bunny-shaped magnet, then frowned out the kitchen window. "As soon as possible, actually. It looks like the snow is really starting to come down." 

"Right," Anika glanced out the window herself, then turned her attention back to the stove. "A quick breakfast, then. Can you grab plates? Do we have the tickets and everything?" 

"In my purse," Dominique assured her. "And our passports, just in case." 

Anika breathed a sigh of relief. "What would I do without you?" 

Dominique smiled slightly, setting the plates on the counter beside her and then starting to redo her hair. "I have no idea." 

~*~

"Okay, I have my laptop, you've both got your tablets, Kiku's going to come take care of Maple, you gave him the spare key, right Al?" 

"Yes," Alfred said, rather proud of himself for how patient he was being. Lovino had thrown up his hands and stomped off to wait in the car seven minutes ago, and was probably going to come back inside and start yelling soon. "We've got everything, Matt, and anything we forget we can borrow replacements for. It's a week at Lovino's brother's house, not the moon." 

"My laptop would be useless on the moon." Matthew looked blank for a moment, and Alfred smothered a laugh. He'd just managed to herd Matthew into the front foyer when the door opened and - sure enough - Lovino ducked back in. There was a dusting of snow in his dark hair and gathering in the folds of the scarf he was huddled into. 

"For Christ's sake," he scowled, but both his boyfriends had been around him long enough not to take it personally or even pay it much mind. "Get your damn boots on before the cat figures out we're leaving and starts screaming." He paused, hovering as Matthew and Alfred dutifully began to get into their coats and boots. "...Is someone coming to feed her, or...?" 

Matthew laughed weakly, finally relaxing a little from his last minute packing frenzy. "Yes. One of Al's coworkers promised to stop by every day." 

"I even gave him the key." Alfred said dutifully. 

"Okay. Good." Lovino checked his watch, brow furrowing a little. "Our train leaves in forty-five minutes, do we have time to stop for a coffee?" 

"There's a Timmies at the station-" Matthew cut himself off with a wince at Lovino's dark glare at the mere suggestion he might drink Tim Horton's coffee. "Or there's a Bridgehead on the way, we should have just enough time." 

Alfred snickered, wrapping an arm around each of them to finally get them all outside. "Bye Maple, be good for Kiku, don't burn the apartment while we're gone!" 

~*~

**Alfred (10:03am):** We're on our way! Train's moving and everything 

**Ludwig (10:06am):** Thank you, keep us posted 

**Ludwig (10:10am):** Feli is really excited you're coming 

**Alfred (10:11am):** Dude, thank you for having us. Your hubby's cooking alone is worth it 

**Alfred (10:13am):** Besides our only other option was Francis and he and Antonio are doing that gross swingers thing with Gil and Art again this week 

**Ludwig (10:15am):** I am aware yes 

**Alfred (10:16am):** Yknow I always forget Gil's your big bro XD 

~*~

The house was Leiv's but the car was Maarten's; he was the one with the longest commute, and his job required occasional travel, more than the other three. It wasn't shiny or completely new, but it had four wheels and it ran and it was big enough for all of them, and in Maarten's mind that was all that counted. The Pusheen-shaped air freshener hanging from the mirror had been Mihai's contribution, the prism crystal that threw rainbows on sunny days was Søren's. There was a sign taped to the back of the driver's seat, it said "No handjobs or blowjobs, this is not a taxi" in precise black Sharpie. It was scripted again underneath translated into Danish, to make sure the message got across. 

Søren frowned as he dropped the last duffel bag into the trunk, then slid the case containing his and Leiv's laptops in much more carefully on top. There was already a good inch of snow accumulated on the roof of the car, and it was coming down in fat, wet flakes that showed no signs of slowing down. He shut the trunk and pulled his phone out of his pocket, checking the weather report as he went back inside. 

"Hey guys?" He had to stop and wipe his phone screen off on his sleeve, it was already dotted with droplets of melting snow. "They're saying thirteen inches by midnight and even worse up north, we need to get going." 

"Coming!" Mihai and Maarten yelled at roughly the same time from opposite ends of the house, but it was Mihai who appeared first, tugging his hat down over his ears. "I've got the snacks," he reassured Søren, patting his backpack, and accepted the fistbump Søren offered. 

"Car's started," Maarten added as he came downstairs, twirling the remote starter around one finger. "And all the upstairs windows are locked." 

Søren resisted the urge to roll his eyes, and felt gratified when Mihai _did_ roll his eyes, though only after Maarten had turned away. Two seconds later, however, Leiv stepped out of the kitchen and gave them a solemn nod. "I just locked the kitchen door, and the living room light is on a random timer." 

"Good, and I've asked Mei next door to get our mail." 

Søren often thought that half this house was crazy, though which half depended on the day. Maarten and Leiv finally seemed satisfied that their house was safe from the imaginary burglars that waited to pounce every time the left the house overnight. Søren was careful not to sigh as he reached out to snag them both by the sleeves. "Good, fantastic, no one but Mei and Mihai's entire Twitter feed will know we're gone, let's go." 

Leiv insisted on locking the front door himself, but then they were officially on their way. 

~*~

**Leiv (10:53am):** Pray for me 

**Tino (10:55am):** What?! Why??? 

**Leiv (10:56am):** Søren's driving 

**Tino (10:57am):** Oh 

**Tino (10:57am):** What do you want on your tombstone? 

~*~

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking." 

Gilbert frowned, looking up the aisle of the plane as though he could see something besides the closed cockpit door. "That's never good." 

"No," beside him Arthur rolled his eyes, peering out the window. They were above the clouds, flying in open air with nothing but sunlight and endless blue sky above them. But below them there was an ominous solid floor of thick gray clouds, a little like thick slush on the streets of London. It _looked_ wet and soupy and disgusting, and it stretched as far as Arthur could see. 

"Unfortunately our destination is shrouded in some bad weather and we're being diverted," the captain continued, and Arthur and Gilbert exchanged annoyed frowns. "We'll see about arranging to have everyone shuttled to their proper destination, but it will depend on the weather on the ground once we land. Thank you for your patience, we'll keep you updated as soon as we have more information." 

"Dammit," Gilbert sighed, echoing the groans of all the other passengers and one very annoyed stewardess. "I was looking forward to Fran and Toni's giant jacuzzi tub tonight." 

Arthur rolled his eyes. "You were looking forward to naked skinny dipping and snogging Antonio with no consequences." 

"You'd be occupied," Gilbert said casually, but it was accompanied by a filthy smirk and Arthur felt himself flush hot at various memories of Francis keeping himself - and Gilbert - 'occupied' over the years. 

"Fuck off," he hissed. "Not the time." 

Gilbert wrinkled his nose, glancing around at the nearly-full plane. "No, not really. Fuck, we won't even be able to phone Fran until we land. Think he's already at the airport?" 

Arthur checked his watch. "Maybe not. If the weather's really that bad he may opt to stay home anyway and leave us at the airport for however long it takes the roads to clear." 

"He wouldn't do that," Gilbert said, and grinned at Arthur's disbelieving look. "Okay, he would, but Antonio would never stop whining sadly that he'd abandoned us." 

"How are they even married?" Arthur shook his head, mystified, and Gilbert laughed. 

"I don't know, man, how are we still living together?" 

"Because you're endearing," Arthur admitted dryly. "Like an ugly rat dog." 

"Oh, _ouch_ ," Gilbert put a hand over his heart. "I am a loyal and majestic German Shepherd, thank you." That at least got Arthur to laugh. "Hey, let's order cocktails and get through this diversion drunk off our asses." 

Arthur shrugged. "You know what, why not?" It wouldn't be the first time Francis had to bail their drunk asses out of jail. It wouldn't even be the first airline they were banned from. 

~*~

**Arthur (3:33pm):** Bloody fuck 

**Alfred (3:35pm):** What did Gil do? 

**Arthur (3:36pm):** Nothing 

**Arthur (3:36pm):** Yet 

**Arthur (3:37pm):** I'll keep you posted 

~*~

The train shuddered beneath them, more than just gravel on the tracks warranted, and Alfred looked up from his 3DS. He wasn't surprised to see that there was nothing but scrub brush, short trees and open farmland outside the train window. They were halfway between no where and a small town, and still had a couple hours left on the trip, especially as slow as they'd been going. He _was_ surprised, and a bit worried, by the thick coating of ice wrapped around every tiny twig on the nearest tree. Beside him, Lovino glanced up from his tablet, popping out one earbud to ask "What-?" as the train shuddered again, and then ground to a halt. 

They exchanged puzzled looks. "Cow on the tracks?" Alfred suggested hesitantly. It had been known to happen, right? 

"Sure," Lovino nodded, but he was clearly uneasy, looking out past Alfred at the icy trees. There was less fluffy snow in the air now, and a lot more sleet and rain, despite that it was still below freezing. "Definitely a cow, and not this fantastic ice storm." 

"Don't be rude, I was being hopeful." Alfred frowned, and was about to lean forward and shake Matthew where he was dozing in the seat in front of them when the train's loudspeaker clicked, then played a tone to let everyone know an announcement was coming. 

"Ladies and gentlemen, we're very sorry for the inconvenience. A track switcher ahead of us has frozen into the wrong position, and we won't be able to continue until it can be repaired. We are working to have the situation corrected, and will keep you updated about when we can be on the move. In the meantime, the attendants will be coming around with snacks and drinks, free of charge. Once again, we are sorry for the inconvenience, and thank you for your understanding." 

The loudspeaker clicked again, and there were groans from passengers all around them. "Fuck," Lovino muttered, dropping his tablet to his lap and pulling out his phone. Alfred leaned forward around him and shook Matthew's shoulder. 

"Matt, wake up." 

"Nng?" Matthew yawned, stretching his arms over his head before twisting around to peer back at him. "What? Are we there already?" 

"Not even close." 

"Hey Potato Head," Lovino was on the phone, and despite their situation Alfred muffled an amused snort at his usual nickname for his brother's husband. "We're stuck. ... I mean _stuck_! The fucking tracks are iced over, we're stopped until they can fix them. ... _No_ I don't fucking know where we are-" 

He was getting loud enough that passengers around them were starting to frown, and Matthew and Alfred exchanged a Look. Matthew reached back and deftly pried the phone out of his fingers, and Alfred timed it so he could clap a hand over Lovino's mouth to muffle the inevitable screech when he did. 

"Hi, Ludwig? Sorry, it's Matthew. ... No, we're on a stretch of tracks in a half wooded area, I don't even see any roads. I wouldn't want you trying to drive in this anyway, it must be hell. ... I'm sure we'll be fine, we'll call you once we start moving again. Please try not to let Feliciano worry too much. ... Hm? Oh, Lovi just bit Al, it's fine. ... Yep, we'll see you soon, I hope. Bye." 

Matthew hung up the phone and tossed it over his shoulder back to Lovino, shifting around to dig out his own. He really hoped the roads were okay for Maarten and his group, but he had a bad feeling. 

~*~

**Matthew (4:10pm):** Hey are you guys okay? 

**Matthew (4:12pm):** Our train's stuck indefinitely. How are the roads? 

**Matthew (4:14pm):** I really hope you're driving and not in a ditch somewhere! 

**Matthew (4:19pm):** Maarten I stg if you're in a ditch 

**Matthew (4:27pm):** Call me when you get the chance 

~*~

It was disheartening to get all the way to the airport to find out that their plane had been delayed. Not cancelled, because that would have been too easy. If it was cancelled, they could have turned around and gone back home. But 'delayed' implied that at any moment they might decide the weather had cleared enough to fly again, so although they didn't bother going through security yet, Dominique and Anika didn't want to leave the airport. They wandered back and forth in the main concourse for a little while, milling around with a hundred other passengers doing the same thing, until Dominique finally stopped walking. 

"This is pointless. Let's find some chairs near a charging station and stake a claim." 

"Good idea," Anika sighed, admitting the wisdom of her view. A little maneuvering got them three seats together; one for each of them and a third for their bags. And then they settled in for however long the airport might be snowbound. 

"Who are you texting?" Dominique asked after awhile, not bothering to lift her head from the back of the chair. She'd managed to find a semi-comfortable position and wasn't about to give it up. 

"Lovino," Anika sighed. "He and Matt and Al are stuck on their train, but at least they have comfy seats. Then again, we have good bathrooms and unlimited coffee." 

Dominique contemplated that. "Alfred's going to die." 

A man looked over from his seat nearby, surprised. He looked about their age or a year or two older, with fine blond hair pulled back into a short tail and a neatly trimmed goatee. "Pardon, but you can't mean Lovino Vargas, Matthew Williams and Alfred Jones, can you?" 

Both women looked at him, equally surprised. "Yes, actually," Anika answered after a moment. "Lovi and I went to school together, and Matthew is my brother's best friend." 

He chuckled, leaning over to offer Anika his hand. "Small world. I'm Francis, Matthew is my cousin." 

"Pleased to meet you," Anika took his hand to give it a firm shake. "I'm Anika, and this is Dominique." 

"Are you waiting to fly out?" Francis asked, and Anika nodded. 

"Well, trying to. We've been delayed indefinitely. You too?" 

"No, I'm waiting to pick up some friends who are visiting for the holidays, but I'm afraid their plane has been delayed as well." Francis sighed, checking his watch again. "The roads are bad enough now that I don't want to drive home, so I suppose I am stuck as well." 

Anika offered him a closed fist, and amused, Francis bumped it in solidarity. Dominique snorted and put her earbuds back in; it was just like Anika to start chattering at a total stranger and find a kindred spirit or some bull like that. 

~*~

**Anika (5:37pm):** Tell Matt his cousin is cute 

**Lovino (5:39pm):** When the fuck did you meet Bonnefoy? 

**Anika (5:40pm):** If you mean Francis, the airport. He's waiting to pick up friends. 

**Lovino (5:42pm):** Al wants to know 'what friends?' 

**Anika (5:49pm):** Arthur Kirkland and Gilbert Beilschmidt? 

**Lovino (5:52pm):** Al just started laughing really hard 

**Lovino (5:54pm):** Apparently Al knows Arthur and says they've been diverted to another airport until the weather clears 

**Anika (5:55pm):** Ouch I'll make sure Fran knows. Probably morning? 

**Lovino (5:59pm):** Probably. Fucking sux. 

**Anika (6:00pm):** Trufax 

~*~

Leiv was not a very loud person, and he habitually didn't swear much. He worked around the general public and quite often children, so he'd trained himself to keep his language much cleaner than Søren or Maarten bothered to. There were two exceptions to this. 

One was sex. 

The other was when he was behind the wheel of the car. 

" _ **Fuck-**_ " 

Maarten's head jerked up, like a rabbit that had heard a warning call from one of its mates. Some instinct made him wrap one arm tightly around Mihai, and his other shot out to brace himself against the back of Søren's seat just as the car fish-tailed, sliding sideways across the snow-covered road. Mihai yelped, grabbing at his coat, and Søren swore breathlessly and shifted to brace himself against the dashboard. "Leiv-" 

"Got it," Leiv gritted out, shoulders tense and knuckles white on the wheel as he twisted it, pumping the brakes lightly. The car bucked again under them and Leiv growled, like he could personally force it into submission. He twisted the steering wheel again, biting at his lip and eyes fixed on the snowy treeline that was sliding closer. Another careful application of the brakes found traction, and they slowed. 

Everyone breathed a quiet sigh of relief as the car reluctantly straightened out again and Leiv carefully guided it back into their proper lane. Luckily there wasn't anyone else in sight on this stretch of highway, not that they could see very far to begin with. 

"...We can't keep going," Maarten said after a moment, once they'd all gotten their heart rates back under control. "It's still coming down and the roads are solid ice." 

Leiv nodded terse agreement, his knuckles still stinging and white where they gripped the steering wheel. "We can't pull over, we'd never get going again." 

"There's got to be something nearby," Mihai piped up, ungluing himself from Maarten's side to find his phone. "A hotel or something." 

"Agreed," Søren reached over to lay a hand along the back of Leiv's neck briefly, press his fingertips into the tension there. "Take it slow, Mihai will get you directions and I'll call Berwald." 

Mihai found a motel a couple miles off the highway that was advertising vacancies. They slid again as Leiv tried to stop at a red light getting off the highway, and by the time they actually made it into the parking lot all their nerves were shot. Maarten stayed with the car to dig out what they'd need for an overnight stay while the other three piled inside the tiny lobby to check in. 

The old woman sitting behind the counter looked a bit surprised at the sudden influx of people, regarding them all with bemusement as they stamped snow off their boots and Søren came forward to smile tiredly at her. 

"We need a room for the night, please. The roads are really terrible out there." 

She turned slowly toward the window, like she'd only just noticed the storm outside. "Oh my. Deary yes, you shouldn't be driving in this. Let me see now..." To Søren's amusement, she completely ignored the slightly dusty computer sitting on the desk and instead opened a thick and even dustier hand-written ledger. She ran a finger down the neat notations. "I have rooms 124 and 126 open, if you'd like to be close together?" 

Søren blinked and glanced back over his shoulder as the bell over the door jingled, letting in a snowy Maarten and their bags. "Uh? If you have any rooms with two beds, or even a single king, that'll be fine for us." 

The old woman blinked her rhummy eyes at him, suddenly frowning. Søren wondered what he'd said. "Listen here young man, I know your generation doesn't have much of a sense of propriety but I will not have it said that my business played host to harlots." 

"I... What?" Søren was at a loss for words, until the answer hit him harder than the snowstorm outside. He and Maarten were much taller and broader than Leiv and Mihai. Bundled in their winter gear, all the half-blind bat could see was Leiv's pink nose and fine hair, curling from the wet, and Mihai's delicate jawline and long eyelashes. He started laughing and couldn't seem to stop, and it only made him laugh harder when Leiv demanded to know what his problem was and the hotel matron's eyes widened at the clearly masculine voice. Maarten had to step forward to get their room sorted out and Søren was reduced to wheezing laughter as he wondered whether she was more scandalized at the thought of renting to prostitutes or a group of gay men. 

~*~

**Maarten (6:49pm):** We're fine, I promise 

**Maarten (6:50pm):** We had to stop for the night, call mom to pick you up 

**Anika (6:52pm):** We're stuck too 

**Anika (6:53pm):** I'll text you the details once we know when we're flying again 

**Maarten (6:54pm):** Okay 

**Maarten (6:56pm):** Remind me to tell you about Leiv and Mihai pretending to be prostitutes 

**Anika (7:00pm):** WAIT WHAT 

**Anika (7:06pm):** BROER WHAT 

**Anika (7:12pm):** OMG I saw Mihai's tweets wtf XDXDXD 

**Anika (7:13pm):** Sleep well 

~*~

Eventually Anika saved all the Instagram pictures and Snapchat screengrabs from the Long Night of Snow and put them into one album. 

Gilbert and Arthur in a selfie outside what had to be the smallest airport in North America along with six other diverted planes, cheeks pink from airline mimosas. 

A motel bathroom - thankfully fairly clean - with a shower about the size of a shoebox. To illustrate, Maarten stood in the shower (clothed), his shoulders nearly brushing the sides and the showerhead about at the level of his collarbones, and the exasperated caption "REALLY?" 

Francis, hollow-eyed and unshaven, blowing Antonio a goodnight kiss with the airport display board in the background, every single plane listed as 'delayed'. 

Lovino in the middle of a yelling match with another passenger, with a close-up, out-of-focus Matthew in the corner looking exasperated and the caption "HE FOUND SOMEONE TO SCREAM IN ITALIAN WITH" 

Dominique asleep with her head in Anika's lap. Anika, clearly not wanting to disturb her, sitting with her spine at a slightly uncomfortable angle and her chin propped on one fist. (It's one of Anika's favorites, she later sent Francis chocolates in thanks for taking it.) 

Arthur, asleep sprawled across all their luggage laid out on the floor like a makeshift cot with the caption "cats slep anywere yo" 

A selfie of Maarten, low-light and sleepy-eyed, with Mihai asleep on his shoulder. It was followed by a second shot of the other bed, Leiv stretched out shirtless on his stomach with Søren straddling his hips, bent forward to massage the accumulated tension out of Leiv's shoulders and back. (Leiv nearly killed him later for the photo, but kept it anyway.) 

Alfred asleep on the floor in the center aisle of the train, his head pillowed on Matthew's rolled up hoodie and Lovino's long coat draped over him like a blanket. 

A shot of Maarten's car parked in the hotel parking lot the next morning, snow halfway up the wheels and the top covered in equal amounts of snow and ice. A second shot followed an hour later, a similar but different-coloured car in a ditch off the side of the road, a wide-eyed Mihai angling himself to be in the shot. "That could have been us!" 

Anika, Dominique and Francis huddled together with identical expressions of sleep-deprivation, holding identical cups of coffee. 

Arthur and Gilbert in another selfie, both with slightly manic grins and pointing at a display board with their flight number and the bold words "Now Boarding" 

A beautiful, artsy black-and-white shot of Lovino sitting beside the train window, chin propped on one hand, motion blur indicating the scenery is _moving_ outside the window. 

Tino and Berwald's fluffy little dog bounding through the snow to meet Mihai's open arms, Leiv leaning on the side of the car beyond him with an expression of distinct relief. 

Arthur and Francis locked in a slightly desperate kiss, like something out of a romance movie, both of them disheveled and tired. Gilbert sent it to Antonio with the caption "BASTARD YOU OWE ME A KISS". 

A selfie of Maarten, Dominique and Anika all in the same frame with smiles ranging from relief to slightly giddy. 

Lovino and Feliciano sprawled out on the couch, Feliciano's arms wrapped firmly around his brother even though he's sound asleep and Lovino looking characteristically annoyed, Christmas tree glittering peacefully in the background. Matthew, smiling, captioned that one "HOME FOR CHRISTMAS". 

~*~

**Lovino (10:27am)(Mass text):** I am never doing that again

**Author's Note:**

> All the texting throughout is an homage to the wonderful fic _[and flower, you're the chosen one](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7376131)_ , by kevystel. It is a fantastic PrUK high school AU and everyone should go read it. 
> 
> For anyone curious, Alfred plays anything with the words "Legend" and "Zelda" in the title, while Matthew prefers games like Professor Layton and Ace Attorney, and they've both been playing Pokemon since they were six. Lovino prefers mobile gaming, and they're considering an intervention to deal with his Candy Crush problem. 
> 
> The soundtrack in Maarten's car is nothing but a constant stream of metal and Eurovision, with nothing in between.


End file.
